VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

Education

February Webinar: News & Media Literacy with Common Sense Education

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common sense education logoJoin VSTE's Education Committee on Thursday, February 24, 2022, at 7 PM. We'll be learning more about media literacy with Sue Thotz from VSTE's partner, Common Sense Education.
News and Media Literacy:  Critical, Not Cynical 

How can we help students learn to think actively about the news and media they encounter every day? How can we nurture a critical -- but not cynical -- eye toward evaluating the current world of news media, on the internet and otherwise? Join Common Sense's introductory workshop to digital citizenship with a focus on news and media literacy. We'll explore resources that develop students' abilities to identify, evaluate, and effectively find credible and trustworthy sources.

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtd-usrzgqHtdYZzjLgQd272o3aInALDe-

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

2022 Virginia Education Broadband Grant from Kajeet

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Kajeet is excited to announce the launch of the Virginia Education Broadband Grant, in partnership with the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA).

In Virginia, it is estimated that more than 200,000 K-12 students lack broadband access at home. During the ongoing pandemic, education leaders continue to go above and beyond, many working alongside the Kajeet education team, to help tens of thousands of students gain access to the online learning resources needed to succeed in school and beyond.  Even so, work remains to solve the digital divide for Virginia’s students.

Kajeet has partnered with VSBA to announce the first-ever Virginia Education Broadband Grant program. This funding opportunity will help school divisions continue the important work being done to ensure all students have digital learning access at school and at home. In total, Kajeet will award nearly $250,000 in broadband services to Virginia school divisions to solve the digital divide and help ensure that all students have access to learn, anytime, anywhere.

Kajeet CEO and Founder, Daniel Neal, announcing the grant at the 2021 VSBA Annual Convention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kajeet CEO and Founder, Daniel Neal, announcing the grant at the 2021 VSBA Annual Convention.

 Applying for the Grant

The Kajeet Virginia Broadband Grant application is open from January 6, 2022 - February 18, 2022.  All Virginia school divisions are eligible to apply. One grant winner will be selected from each of the VSBA school regions, for a total of nine winners.

Each grant recipient will be awarded up to $30,000 of Kajeet Education Broadband solutions. This includes unlimited student data plans, access to the Sentinel® platform, and the devices of the school division’s choice, including any combination of:

  • WiFi Hotspots
  • LTE-Embedded Laptops and Tablets
  • School Bus WiFi
  • Routers for Multi-Student Homes and Buildings

All Kajeet Education Broadband solutions include modern firewall protection and robust filters, including the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) compliant filters to ensure learning devices are secure and your students safe and on-task for learning.

Apply! Visit get.kajeet.net/vsba-grant to learn more about the grant and submit your school division’s application.

January Webinar Recordings

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graphic of computer with book on screenThursday, January 27, 2022, 7 PM
Pandemic Tech Tools and Tips with VSTE 2021 Technology Coach of the Year, Fara Faust

Come join the VSTE Outreach Committee, led by Board Director Chanel Alford, to meet your 2021 VSTE Tech Coach of the Year Winner, Fara Faust, as she discusses useful tech tools.  Fara is amazing! During the pandemic, she started weekly computer science webinars with elementary students from Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Additionally, she is a facilitator for CodeVA which provides computer science professional development to educators across Virginia. Furthermore, Fara is adamant about students having equitable access to devices, materials, and robotics. Join us for a riveting discussion which is sure to be exciting and a great learning opportunity.

View the presentation

 

The VSTE Education Committee, led by Board Director Tim Taylor, meets the the third or fourth Thursday of each month at 7 PM. Topics range from digital citizenship to technology integration. These meetings are open to the public. Use the link below to register for the January webinar presented by Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith.

Thursday, January 20, 2022, 7 PM
Making Thinking Visible in the Google Infused Classroom
How do you know your students are truly understanding what they are being taught in your class? How are they showing what they know? And how do you ensure that those who do not perform well on standardized tests have the opportunity to demonstrate their learning and increase their confidence as learners? Join Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith – Co-authors of the Google Infused Classroom as they explore ways you can tweak your lessons to provide creative opportunities for students to make their thinking visible; and strategies for providing timely and meaningful feedback to help them improve as independent learners.

View the presentation

Come Learn With Us: VSTE Education Committee Open to Public

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The VSTE Education Committee, led by Board Director Tim Taylor, meets the fourth Thursday of each month at 7 PM. Topics range from digital citizenship to technology integration and, beginning in October, these meetings will be open to the public!

Canva is the topic for the October meeting. Andy Shaw from Canva will give us a tour and provide some insider tips for using this popular online design tool. Canva makes it easy to design beautiful things - from posters to presentations to infographics to flashcards - in a snap. Canva for Education empowers teachers to build visual literacy in students and facilitates project-based learning in classrooms.  Last year, Canva launched a Canva for Districts program, providing free enterprise-level rollout of Canva tools for all school district users, including all premium Canva Pro content, collaboration features and integrations with the classroom in mind, and enterprise-level controls and features. Join us to learn more about the Canva platform and about how to set up district-wide deployment of Canva at no cost, from Andy Shaw, a former teacher and school leader who is now a member of the education team at Canva.

Join us on October 28, 2021, at 7 PM for this FREE event.

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqfu-grD8sGd3BLLTsZQC05XqLIuCvvKdE

Registration Link

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Student Engagement and Choice Go Hand in Hand

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Smiling WomanDuring their VSTE 2020 session, Student Engagement through Choice and Project-Based Assessment: Skills for Future Readiness, Lindsay Krauss, Instructional Technology Coach for Prince William County explored project-based choice assessments to enhance student engagement. She discussed ideas for how to implement project-based assessment with elementary and secondary students that included student choice for different learning styles. She also included specific tech tools as examples of choice that students could use collaboratively or individually to create podcasts, newsletters, and videos.

When students are offered choice the outcome is increased student engagement. In this instance, choice is defined as, the learner has choice in how they learn and options on how they demonstrate mastery.  Lindsay spoke about why student choice and gave the following reasons. 

  • Differentiation
  • Engagement
  • Ownership and Buy-in
  • Independence
  • Connection
  • Confidence 
  • Competence 
  • More fun

When talking about engagement it is important to remember that there are different levels of engagement. Student choice leads to the top form of engagement. The Schlechty Center has five levels of engagement.

  1. Rebellion: Diverted Attention - No Commitment
  2. Retreatism: No Attention - No Commitment
  3. Ritual Compliance: Low Attention - No Commitment
  4. Strategic Compliance: High Attention - Low Commitment
  5. Authentic Engagement: High Attention - High Commitment.

Student choice leads to the highest level: Engagement, which is defined as, the student associates the task with a result or product that has meaning and value for the student. The student will persist in the face of difficulty and will learn at high and profound levels. It is for this reason that we want to offer students more opportunities for choice.  

You can watch Lindsay’s VSTE 2020 presentation on the VSTE Youtube Channel and resources from Lindsay’s presentation can be found on her Wakelet site.

 

Heather Hurley is a member of the VSTE Board of Directors and chairs the Outreach Committee. Heather is the Personalized Learning Specialist in Arlington County Public Schools.